Racing the Dark

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Riding home on New Year’s Day

in the remaining light

– chasing the dusk –

after a fiery sunset,

an orange band

sandwiched against bars of deepening blue.

Trees, ink blots

stark against the winter sky.

Frozen spectres of shadow

straight out of Rackham,

a Northern European folk tale.

Absolute concentration

on the road, the line of a bend –

scanning for ice, for gravel,

the fata morgana of a diesel slick.

The grit spreaders are out,

leaving a chancy seasoning

on the macadam.

The cold hits you like an icy fist,

encroaching through the layers.

The outriders of frostbite

creeping up the fingertips,

inveigling themselves into toes.

Use of controls –

difficult; reactions –

sluggish. Can survive only

so long – before the

numbness wins.

Mean

while

witnessing the austere beauty

of it all.

Life, stripped to its essence,

its core truth.

Day One of a new decade,

perhaps.

The road unribbons before me,

full of possibility.

To be riding into the future

on New Year’s Day –

steering my destiny.

Turning the wheel

into tomorrow.

The darker it gets,

the brighter we become –

shining in the night.

We race against the dark –

Death always at our heels,

but he won’t win the race

this day.

Kevan Manwaring

From The Immanent Moment, Awen 2012

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Posted to raise funds to help replace my Triumph Legend motorbike, stolen on 14th May.

Please support if you can:

https://www.gofundme.com/manage/stolen-bike-replacement-fund